As a leading cause of disability worldwide, depression is taken very seriously and is largely treated with medication. As with most drugs however, antidepressants come with side effects. Here, in a Q and A with Kevin Billett, a previous sufferer of depression, a natural path to healing is explained.

After having suffered from chronic depression for over 20 years, I used The Journey® method to get to its root and finish with it completely. I am now totally depression free and passionate about working with others to help them to release and clear that old consciousness and, ultimately, guide them to open to the energy life has to offer. This led me to develop ‘Out of the Blue’, which is a Journey-based seminar that provides you with powerful tools for your own freedom.

How prevalent is depression?

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. With over 350 million people of all ages afflicted, WHO further states that it is a major contributor to the overall Global Burden of Disease.1

What causes depression?

Traditionally, the causes of depression are reckoned to be difficult life circumstances that seem impossible to handle; these include bullying, exam pressures, divorce, financial difficulties and poverty. I believe these events are simply catalysts of depression, and that the root cause is deeper.

So, what is the root?

Whether through our circumstances, our role models or society, we are often taught at an early age to keep our emotions in check or hidden, and that it is better to avoid them than to feel them – especially the ‘unwanted’ feelings that create discomfort or are judged as inappropriate. This leads to a constant state of shutting down and avoidance, and for many people this is the root cause of depression. It is actually a vicious cycle: as we dampen our feelings, our bodies shut down and become lethargic. The more our bodies shut down, the more our bliss chemicals, endorphins, get out of whack, resulting in further depression, and so the cycle continues.

To compound the issue, psycho-neuro immunology research has produced compelling evidence that our thought patterns directly and instantaneously affect our body chemistry, and this can suppress the immune system.

Is medication a solution?

The irony is that the common fix these days comes in the form of prescription pills that are designed to make us feel better. However, drugs are not emotionally intelligent and cannot discern between emotions, so they act to suppress all of our emotions and thus keep us in a state of grey fogginess – that is, a depressed state.

Why did you eventually medicate?

It was a last resort for me. I suffered from clinical depression as early as my teens and even though I grew up to be a relatively successful, outgoing businessman, I would often find myself mired in despair. When in this state, I struggled to get out of bed and would take time off work, able to do little more than watch television and sleep. My loved ones expected me to snap out of it, yet I was not willing to take drugs. This changed in my late 30s, when I had become so depressed that I was socially detached and constantly anxious. Mentally, I couldn’t focus to the degree that I couldn’t hold an intelligent conversation. It got so bad that I was suicidal with despair and my GP referred me to a psychiatrist who prescribed 40 mg of Prozac daily. I numbly accepted, feeling that I had no other option.

What was your experience of medicating?

At best I became more functional, but the side effects were a pervasive sense of unreality and an unfamiliar, overt aggressiveness that I found so upsetting that I would simply plunge back into depression. In short, I was still not in a great space.

What was your turning point?

In 1994, a friend suggested a Journey process with Brandon Bays. At that point I was desperate so, without much enthusiasm, I made an appointment. Little knowing that my life was about to change in the most profound way I could imagine. The process helped me to expose and go down through the emotional layers that lay beneath my depression, eventually arriving at an overwhelming hopelessness that I would stake my life to avoid. By finally acknowledging and fully experiencing it, its grip on my life was gone. The process went on to uncover and resolve some childhood issues, which had given rise to my early patterns of depression. At the end, I felt a sense of inner peace, stillness and confidence that I knew to be unshakeable.

What happened after that first Journey process?

While I don’t recommend that anyone withdraw from medication so suddenly, against the advice of my psychiatrist, I stopped my medication. Though the withdrawal symptoms were severe, to my delight the profound sense of well-being remained, and the depression was gone for good.

Caution

Please note though, if you are feeling overwhelmed, desperate, hopeless and suicidal, please seek qualified medical attention. Once you settle these extreme responses, you could consider entering Journey therapy.

‘It’s time to make a fundamental choice: We can settle for life as we have so far experienced it, with its limitations, its pretences and its suffering. Or we can wake up, stop the pretence, and turn to face our fears, instead of burying them or running away from them. We can choose to look the ‘tiger’ in the eye and realise that it was always a paper tiger. We can embrace reality, live so fully that our resistances melt and our limitless potential is unchained and flourishes. For me, it is a choiceless choice…’ ~ Kevin Billett